PI: Dr. Ioannis Zografopoulos

Ioannis Zografopoulos is an assistant professor in the Engineering Department of the College of Science and Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston. He is the principal investigator (PI) of the Infrastructure Cybersecurity and Resilience Laboratory (ICARUS). He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in 2023. Prior, he graduated with B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees in Computer, Communications, and Network Engineering, and an M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

His research interests include cyber-physical systems security, with an emphasis on embedded systems for industrial, distributed energy, and power grid applications.

He is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics and the Chair of IEEE PES Task Force on Resilient and Secure Large-Scale Energy Internet Systems.

Furthermore, he is a member of IET, an IEEE and PES Senior Member and has served as a reviewer for the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, IEEE Systems Journal, IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics & Security, IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Access, IEEE SmartGridComm, IET Smart Grid, IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, and other IEEE and ACM conferences and journals.

Kerd Topallaj

Kerd Topallaj (Student Member, IEEE) is currently a senior undergraduate student pursuing a B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Boston, MA, USA. His research interests include real-time simulation of power systems. Upon graduation, he will begin his professional career in the industry as an Associate Engineer in Distribution Planning and Asset Management at National Grid. He has also passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam in Electrical & Computer Engineering and is pursuing Engineer-in-Training (EIT) certification following graduation. At ICARUS Lab, he worked on real-time simulation of power system models, and assessed the impact of cyberattacks on inverter-based resource microgrids. [Paper] [Poster]

Suraj Ramanathan

Suraj Ramanathan is a final-year electrical engineering student at UMass Boston and a recipient of the UMass Boston Transfer Student Scholarship. His academic and research interests center on power systems, combining theoretical study with real-time grid simulation. He gained field experience as a construction intern with Blattner Energy, serving as a field engineer at the Morris Ridge Solar project near Rochester, NY. After graduation, Suraj will join Eversource Energy as an Associate Engineer in Distribution System Planning. At ICARUS Lab, he worked on his senior design project on real-time microgrid simulation with hardware-in-the-loop cyberattack analysis. He also co-authored the paper Impact Assessment of Cyberattacks in Inverter-Based Microgrids accepted in the IEEE eGrid 2025 Workshop. [Paper] [Poster]

Colin Mckerrell

Colin Mckerrell is a senior electrical engineering student at UMass Boston whose research focuses on power system stability in grids with high levels of inverter-based resources, as well as translating these models into real-time grid simulations. Following graduation, he will begin his career at Eversource Energy as an Associate Engineer in Distribution System Planning. At ICARUS Lab, he completed his senior design project on real-time microgrid simulation, incorporating hardware-in-the-loop analysis of cyberattacks. He is also a co-author of the workshop paper Impact Assessment of Cyberattacks in Inverter-Based Microgrids, which was accepted for presentation at the IEEE eGrid 2025 Workshop. [Paper] [Poster]

Elda Ramirez

Elda Ramirez is a junior electrical engineering student at UMass Boston and a recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Undergraduate Fellowship Award. Her research focuses on applying mathematical optimization techniques to enhance the observability and control of power systems. At ICARUS Lab, she designed optimization tools aimed at improving power system observability while minimizing the deployment costs of phasor measurement units, thereby providing system operators with more actionable insights. She presented the outcomes of her work at the 2025 Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference. [Poster] [Slides]

Isaac Marzuca

Isaac Marzuca is a senior electrical engineering student at UMass Boston and an Alfred P. Sloan Undergraduate Student Fellow. His research interests lie in network security and the application of machine learning. At ICARUS Lab, he worked on developing a machine learning–based intrusion detection system designed for industrial control protocols.